Bird flu: demand for action grows

Pressure was mounting on the Government last night to take urgent action against a bird flu pandemic as it emerged many more people may have died from the virus than previously thought.

Flu experts and opposition politicians called on ministers to start stockpiling vaccines and anti-viral drugs that could treat the virus, which could kill millions.

Their demands came as Oxford University scientists suggested bird flu, also known as H5N1, may have claimed many more lives in Asia than the official death toll of 42.

Researchers found it can attack all parts of the body - not just the lungs as previously thought - suggesting many victims may have been wrongly diagnosed with other conditions. The study says it is even possible the virus has already been carried to other countries without sufferers ever being diagnosed.

Some experts say that if bird flu were to spread globally, the worst-case scenario could see up to 100million deaths, including hundreds of thousands in Britain alone.

Dr Douglas Fleming, director of the Royal College of GPs' Birmingham Flu Research Unit, said that, in the event of an outbreak, anti-viral drugs would offer the best hope of containing it.

'One cannot be sure but you are looking at a question of prudent planning and the probability is that it will be effective,' he said.

His comments follow those of Britain's leading flu expert, Professor John Oxford, of Queen Mary's School of Medicine in London, who called for the Government to show more urgency in tackling the threat.

The Department of Health has admitted it has no vaccine stocks to deal with bird flu and yesterday refused to reveal the extent of its stocks of antivirals. It has continued to insist it will publish a 'draft plan' of how to deal with an outbreak in the spring, without naming a specific date.

The Government argues that because flu viruses constantly mutate, it is 'impractical' to stock large amounts of a vaccine.

But experts believe vaccination could prime the immune system so that only a single dose of a strain-specific vaccine would be needed once an outbreak occurs.

The World Health Organisation is calling for governments to consider stockpiling such vaccines, and the U.S. has already ordered four million doses. Italy and France plan to stockpile two million doses each.

The Oxford research, detailed in the New England Journal of Medicine, examined the deaths of a brother and sister who lived in a single room with their parents in Vietnam.

They were recorded as dying of inflammation of the brain and neither displayed respiratory problems, which have been considered typical of bird flu.

But samples taken from the boy showed traces of H5N1 in his blood, nose, the fluid around the brain and his faeces. It is suspected his sister was also suffering from the virus.

Professor Oxford said: 'It is obviously moving silently in some areas, like in Vietnam, which is worrying.'

Shadow Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said: ' Conservatives have repeatedly asked the Government about such preparatory measures but no action has been taken.'

A Health Department spokesman said yesterday: 'The opportunities and options for stockpiling anti-virals is one of the issues we're looking at as part of updating our pandemic plans.'